Front Porch Communications L.L.C., a hardware and software solutions developer for Internet service providers since 1998, expanded its offerings last week to include wireless Internet solutions.
Qualcomm Inc. also said it invested $5 million in Front Porch to support continued development, production and market expansion of the company’s solutions including its dial-up, broadband and high-speed wireless data PorchLight technology.
“The PorchLight technology will provide opportunities for the digital wireless communications market to complement Qualcomm’s [high data rate] solution,” said Jeff Jacobs, senior vice president of business development with Qualcomm.
The investment marked Front Porch’s entrance into the global wireless Internet industry. The company’s technology allows Internet service providers to deliver customized service messages to subscribers. It now will apply this to the wireless space by offering bandwidth-efficient, high-speed data solutions.
Zachary Britton, chief executive officer of Front Porch, said a transceiver unit will be housed at a cellular base station with a T1 line running from the unit to a central base station. Information then will be downloaded from the Internet to these units and stored until a wireless Web user accesses it using either an Internet-enabled phone or personal digital assistant.
Britton said the company is currently working to form partnerships with carriers to install the transceiver units, which cost approximately $2,500 each. He also noted that although Qualcomm is investing in PorchLight to work with its HDR solution, PorchLight is technology agnostic.
PorchLight offers several features, including InfoSplash, InfoBurst, Server Select, PageMelding, ISP Announcement and TrueTrak.
InfoSplash and InfoBurst combine windowing and profiling technologies to effectively target advertisements to wireless Web subscribers.
ServerSelect enables ISPs to redirect subscriber traffic to the site of one of Front Porch’s portal partners, and PageMelding allows ISPs to co-brand the portal site with their logo and any other important information.
ISP Announcement and TrueTrak give ISPs the power to notify subscribers of urgent information and control how customers take advantage of PorchLight services, the company said.
Finally, the company said it opened new facilities in Walnut Creek and San Diego, Calif. Britton said Front Porch has experienced tremendous growth during the past 18 months and outgrew its facility in Sonora, Calif.
The Walnut Creek location will serve as the center for business development and finance operations, and the San Diego facility will support the company’s international operations.
